The Holidays are Here

I am back from my hiatus and I have some new crochet items in the works too.  Most notably are the mini bags I'm making and the crocheted and woven scarves.

Www.steenta.etsy.com 

This is one bag I have listed.  I think it would make a great Christmas present.  It could even be holding another present inside.

I had fun making this one and I hope to add a few more to be sold in the next few days.  Hope everyone is having a good holiday season.

Earth Globe Plush

My inspiration from the etsy shop, Little Smiles Boutique

Earth Plush Pattern

It's getting closer to Christmas and I am still working away, trying to get presents together.  Like you all know, my husband is still looking for a job, so we are low on money for gifts this year.  My time is also scarce with three kids, the youngest nearly five months old.  

While trying to come up with gift ideas, I looked over my children's Christmas lists, and saw that my daughter wants a globe.  Adorable.  She's in kindergarten, and I love that she is so interested in learning!  Anyhoo, at first I was going to buy a blow up globe ball.  They're under $10.  I also found a Earth Ball for about $15 at the Fat Brain Toys website.

http://www.fatbraintoys.com/toy_companies/orbis_world_globes/16_inch_diameter_earthball.cfm

I decided to save some money and just make a plushie of the Earth.  Here's what I did.  I got some blue yarn, and amigurumi crocheted two halves of a ball.

Pattern for Earth Ball

Make 2, using blue yarn...

magic ring, sc 6 times (6sc)

2sc in each sc (12 sc)

*1sc, 2sc in next sc* repeat around another 5x (18sc)

*2sc, 2sc in next sc* repeat around another 5x  (24sc)

*3sc, 2sc in next sc* repeat around another 5x (30sc)

*4sc, 2sc in next sc* repeat around another 5x (36sc)

*5sc, 2sc in next sc* repeat around another 5x (42sc)

*6sc, 2sc in next sc* repeat around another 5x (48sc)

*7sc, 2sc in next sc* repeat around another 5x (54sc)

*8sc, 2sc in next sc* repeat around another 5x (60sc)

sc around (60sc)

sc around (60sc)

sc around (60sc)

sc around (60 sc)

sc around (60 sc)

Now use blue yarn to sew the two  halves together leaving a couple inches to stuff it with stuffing.  After stuffing the ball, you have to add the continents.  You can use felt or fleece, whatever you have that doesn't fray.  You're also going to need some templates for the continents.  I used the templates from the site below.  You're gonna need to scale them down.  I also rounded some of the shapes, since there's no way I can create a perfect map of the world.  LOL. 

http://www-tc.pbskids.org/arthur/parentsteachers/lesson/world/pdf/Balloon_Globe.pdf

Feel free to use different colors for different continents.  I'm going to sew a little star on our location, so my daughter has an idea of where we live.  Hope you liked this tutorial.  You can do it.  Happy crafting!

Large Amigurumi Doll Tutorial

I found this free amigurumi doll pattern a while back and thought I'd share it.  It's a rather large doll.  I would say if you have one special little girl, this would be a great gift to make for her.  Not ideal for my situation at the moment.  It is Christmas time and I have about a dozen kids I need to make presents for.  Maybe for my one and only daughter, I could set aside the time for this dolly.  Of course, it's hard to hide the creation of something this big, but then again, she started kindergarten this year.  :)  Maybe it's possible after all.

http://stitch.hellooperator.net/free-patterns/amigurumi-doll/

Check out the tutorial.  Also, if you are going to make this for a child under three, sew on felt for eyes instead of buttons.  Happy crafting!

Crocheting and other Projects!

I haven't written for a while. Mostly because I got caught up in life. Our family has gone through a lot of changes within the last year. We lost a great man, but we will also be welcoming a new addition sometime between now and the end of July.

In other words, I have been forced back into creative mode. Because I'm going to be having another baby, I have been trying to make things that will be cute for our newest member.

So far, I have made a baby hat, with cute little bear ears. I always thought those hats were adorable, so I tried my hand at making one. I also made a small blanket that I plan on using as a carseat blanket. I still want to finish the baby booties I started.

The best part is that I already had all the materials for everything on hand. I used some baby blue yarn for the baby hat. The baby booties, I used some light green and blue fleece. I will also be using some yarn I already have to finish it. For the blanket, I found a large amount of royal blue yarn, so I decided that would make up the most of the blanket. Then I used two accent colors of yarn, one yellow, and one multi-color.

The blanket is pretty easy and quick to make. I just made a long chain of about 55 chains. I then went along that first row with half double crochets. Once at the end of that row, I chained three and then all along the next row (and every row after) I did the half double crochet in the back loop. By doing this you get an attractive texture to the whole blanket. It makes it look like the blanket is striped.

I made five rows of blue, then one row of yellow, then 5 more rows of blue, then one row of multi-color, and then I start back up with the pattern until I get to the desired size (something that'll fit on a car seat, after about three yellows, and ending with the five rows of blue).

I haven't finished it yet, but I think I'll probably go around the whole blanket with single crochets in the three colors used. When I'm done I'll post a picture.

New Jack O'Lantern Purse Pattern

I created a fun little purse for the Halloween season. I have the pattern up for sale in my etsy store. It is the first of hopefully many patterns I will create for sale. I think it is a very cute little purse. I like to wrap the handle around my wrist and swing it around. I think it would be the perfect bag for a child this season. Anyway, let me know what your thoughts are on it. It was very quick to make and if you want to make one for yourself, go to this site and buy the pattern. I will make sure to send the pdf quickly.

Watermelon Purse

Since I am planning on having a booth at the Watermelon Festival this year, I thought I would do some items with a watermelon theme. I used to make a lot of crocheted purses as gifts for people a few years back. I thought, "Hey why not make a watermelon purse?" So that's what I did yesterday and today. Here I show you the first watermelon purse. It may change slightly, but overall I really like it. I think my customers will like it too. Let me know what you think.

New Dolly

I crocheted a new doll for my daughter these past few days. I never really new how to make doll hair, so I was a bit disappointed with all my past attempts at making a crocheted doll. I looked up so more tutorials on how to make a crocheted/amigurumi doll. I found a few different techniques that people use to make doll hair. So, I thought I would try it out. This is a fairly simple pattern that I created.

It is an amigurumi doll. Her head is made until you get to 30 single crochets. I then did five rows of the 30 single crochets. Then I just decreased until I had a row of 12 single crochets. The body is created until you get to 24 single crochets. Then I alternated decreasing and just doing another row of single crochets. This made the cone like shape. Then for the arms, I used an adjustable ring of three instead of six and single crocheted twice in each to get six crochets in a ring. I then just made five more rows of six single crochets. For the legs I started with a color for her shoes, I then made an adjustable ring and crocheted six into it. I continued with a row of 12 and then another of 12, then I slipstitched into the next chain, and I changed to the flesh color. I did one more row of 12 then I decreased one whole row, and continued with chains of 6 until I felt the leg was long enough, about three more rows. I also made a hat for the doll, this is crocheted until you get to 36 single crochets in a spiral. Remeber it is all just a multiplication of 6.

For the hair I took long pieces of a boucle yarn and tied four of them together until I had enough pieces. I pulled the pieces of yarn through the head. Some of the pieces toward the front of the face have more than one piece of yarn pulled through. I gave the doll two braids and even some bangs. I sewed two button eyes on to her. My daughter is almost three years old, so I thought I would try it. I also took some pink yarn and made her a mouth. Oh and the hat has a piece of yarn that is tied around it, so that it stays on her head, but can be taken off. I also tied little bows on her shoes to cover wear I changed the yarn. Just a tip, when you make amigurumi, make sure you leave a long piece of yarn when you are done making one of the pieces because that's what you used to sew the pieces together. That's about it, I stuffed the pieces, and sewed them together and out of came a pretty cute little doll. I think she kind of looks like a biker with the hat right now. I might still add some more things, but for the most part I think she is mostly done. Hope you like her.

October 2008 Baby Shower Post Updated

I finally added pictures to the post I made about the baby shower way back in October 2008. Added some pictures of the car seat blanket. It has the instructions on how to make it to. Head on over there, NOW!
If you want.

It's nice!

Lately, it's been kind of nice out, so on my husband's days off we've been able to go out more. The one problem with that is, our car doesn't have very good air conditioning. We have to aim for bumps to get it to kick on. Yeah, I would love to retire that car. It's his baby though, and we need to wait probably another year before we can actually afford a good alternative. That's fine with me. I can wait, I know that eventually we'll have something better suited to our family. As it is now, only the four of us can ride in the car. It is only a two door, and don't even ask about trunk space for a stroller. We have an umbrella stroller that we bought like two years ago for fifteen dollars that still gets used very often.

On another note, that ballerina pattern I bought is not my first attempt at amigurumi. For those of you who do not know what amigurumi is let me attempt to explain. Amigurumi is a type of Japanese crochet that is done in spirals instead of in rounds. It's really pretty easy with a few differences from the western version of crochet. One difference is you use an adjustable ring to start. You also use an embroidery needle to sew the extremities onto the body.

A while back I made a few different amigurumi dolls and animals. I gave most of them away without taking pictures of them. I took a picture of one of them that I made and gave to my daughter. Some of the other things I made included a little bear and a white bunny. Here is a doll I made for my daughter using the amigurumi technique. There is one thing that is not always used in amigurumi and that is the addition of felt, I like the look of it. You can use just regular old yarn or thread to make the eyes and other details though. I tend to not use buttons and other things that can fall off, simply because it's not recommended for children under three.

I think I used too large a crochet hook in the past. I am pretty confident that the ballerina will come out well, I just need to get the right yarn and actually get everything together so I can get to work.

Cute Little Amigurumi Ballerina Pattern

I ordered a ballerina doll pattern from a shop on etsy last night. The store's name is owlishly. I always wanted to see what they were like. I'm a pretty decent crocheter, so I decided it would be worth it to give it a try. I think I'm going to make the pattern for my daughter for her upcoming birthday. She is going to be three and that's when she gets to start ballet school. She is always talking about when she gets to start dance school, so I know she will love this. The woman at owlishly makes a lot of really cute amigurumi crochet patterns.
Her blog is http://owlishly.typepad.com/ and you can see some of the other crochet projects she's been up to.

How to crochet a baby hat

I wrote these instructions at http://www.ehow.com/how_4532049_crochet-adorable-baby-hat-quick.html on how to make a baby hat with

• soft yarn
• crochet hook
• scissors
• tapestry needle

First, pick your yarn. If you know the gender of the baby, a blue or green color yarn is good for a boy, while pink and purple work nicely for a girl. Keep in mind, an itchy yarn won't be comfortable for a little one, so try to pick something soft. A yarn that is specifically made for babies is one way to choose your yarn.

Step2

Now, you can start crocheting. Take your yarn, and place it with the tail end pointing towards you. Put the crochet hook on top. Now, take the tail end and wrap it up and over the hook. You should now have the tail end pointing back at you, and the rest of the yarn pointing out away from you. Take the yarn from the ball of yarn and wrap it over the hook from back to front, then pull that yarn through the loop already on the hook. Pull tight, leaving a bit of room to continue crocheting.

Step3

Next, make a chain of three. Then you can decide to either Double Crochet or Half Double Crochet. Half double crochet will be thicker. Whichever you decide, you will do five more in the third chain away from the hook, or the first chain you created. This creates 6 HDC/DC's with the two chains acting as the first HDC/DC. Slip Stitch into the top of that chain.

Step4

Chain two. HDC or DC twice in every stitch, you should have 12 stitches altogether, slip stitch at the beginning to close.

Step5

Chain two. HDC or DC once in the next stitch and then twice in the stitch after that, repeat across. You will have 18 stitches at the end, slip stitch to close.

Step6

Chain two. HDC or DC once in the next two stitches, and twice in the next stitch. Repeat across. You will have 24 HDC's or DC's, slip stitch in the top chain to close.

Step7

Chain two. HDC or DC once in the next three stitches, and twice in the next stitch. Repeat across. You will have 30 stitches altogether. Slip stitch to close.

Step8

Chain two. This time you will HDC or DC once in every stitch. You will have the same number of stitches as the last row. Repeat this for two more rows, to add some length to your baby hat.

Step9

Now you can finish the hat by giving it a pretty edging. A simple edging for a boy is to do a single crochet around and slip stitch when you get back to the first stitch. For a girl you can do a simple ruffle edge. Chain three, single crochet in the next stitch. Chain three and single crochet again. Do this across. When you get back to the beginning, chain three, then slip stitch in the first chain you made.

Step10

Fasten off the yarn by taking your hook out and placing it into the loop facing the opposite direction. Now cut the yarn and pull up a loop pulling all the way through, nice and tight. Use the tapestry needle or the crochet hook to weave the yarn back into the hat. Trim the yarn down to about an inch and a half, you don't want to leave too much yarn, since this is for a baby. Remember to weave the yarn at the top of the hat now as well. Your hat is now finished.

Tips and Warnings

• For a boy you might want to do a front post back post double crochet edge. Simply, chain two, then insert your hook into the front post and double crochet in it. The next stitch you would go through the back and do a double crochet. Alternate this around. Slip stitch when you get back to the first two chains.
• Don't be afraid to add cute little embellishments or experiment with different colors of yarn.
• Variegated yarns can make interesting gifts. I have noticed that a blue variegated yarn can work up to look like blue camo.
• Try using two different colors at once.
• Crochet a little flower and sew it onto the hat for a baby girl.
• Don't add anything that could pose a hazard to a baby.
• No beads or strings.

Baby Shower

I went to a friend's baby shower this past weekend. As the crafty girl I am, I made sure the gift I gave was fabulous. I crocheted a little baby hat, mittens, booties, and a car seat blanket. My friend is expecting a girl, her second. She already has a little girl just a couple months younger than mine. We are both pregnant again, pretty cool, only this time I'm having a boy. Anyway, I used some left over yarn to make the hat, mittens, and booties. I used two different colors, pink and white. It came out really nice. I also embellished the hat by crocheting a little flower and sewed it on with a tapestry needle. I ran out of the pink and white yarn, so I made the car seat blanket out of a purple yarn, and a variegated purple/yellow yarn. I made everything with the half double crochet stitch. I then edged it all with a pretty feminine edging. Really simple, single crochet, three chains, then another single crochet. It was a hit, everyone loves a handmade gift.

Another thing that I thought was pretty ingenious, if I do say so myself, the car seat blanket has a built-in tie. I just made the blanket about 50 chains, then work up in half double crochet until you get to about 18 inches long. Then do the edging in one of the colors, or both if you like, I only did one though. I then, crocheted 50 chains with both yarns, but to strings of just one color would look nice too. I put a knot in each end of the strand. Then I folded the blanket in half long ways. I rolled the blanket up and chose a spot in the middle of the corner and threaded the yarn chain through. I tied a knot and this is how I tied the blanket up. I think it would work great to hold a pacifier in the car too, but of course should be kept away from the baby. I would suggest it being tied in a bow. If the parent is really uneasy about it, it can be removed really easily, too. I did see another cool baby gift at the shower that was handmade. It was a diaper wipes container that was covered in fabric and decorated with a little ribbon. I don't really know what type of glue would work on fabric and plastic, but it sparked my interest. Don't be surprised if you see one here in a couple of weeks.


Update! Some pics of a car seat blanket I made. This is the one I made for my son.

Granny Square Crocheted Blankets

Recently, I have been crocheting almost constantly. I decided to make my daughter a blanket. I finished that project quickly. Only a matter of days from start to finish. Then, not long after finishing that blanket, I moved right on to making a blanket for the baby that I am currently almost 7 months pregnant with. Both blankets are created from granny squares. They are still very different though. I think these would be great for gifts, and I will try to get some pictures up soon.